Synopses & Reviews
The earth’s cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers,
Review
Weighing in at 1300 Letter-size pages of double-columned small print, and peppered every two or three pages with graphs, diagrams and photographs, often in colour, the encyclopedia is crammed with information and attractively packaged.
Review
From the reviews: Weighing in at 1300 Letter-size pages of double-columned small print, and peppered every two or three pages with graphs, diagrams and photographs, often in colour, the encyclopedia is crammed with information and attractively packaged.
Synopsis
The earth s cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost, contains about 75% of the earth s fresh water. It exists at almost all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and plays a vital role in controlling the global climate system. It also provides direct visible evidence of the effect of climate change, and, therefore, requires proper understanding of its complex dynamics.
This encyclopedia mainly focuses on the various aspects of snow, ice and glaciers, but also covers other cryospheric branches, and providesup-to-date information and basic concepts on relevant topics. It includes alphabetically arranged and professionally written, comprehensive and authoritative academic articles by well-known international experts in individual fields. The encyclopedia contains a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide distribution; glaciation and ice ages; glacier dynamics; glacier surface and subsurface characteristics; geomorphic processes and landscape formation; hydrology and sedimentary systems; permafrost degradation; hazards caused by cryospheric changes; and trends of glacier retreat on the global scale along with the impact of climate change.
This book can serve as a source of reference at the undergraduate and graduate level and help to better understand snow, ice and glaciers. It will also be an indispensable tool containing specialized literature for geologists, geographers, climatologists, hydrologists, and water resources engineers; as well as for those who are engaged in the practice of agricultural and civil engineering, earth sciences, environmental sciences and engineering, ecosystem management, and other relevant subjects.
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Synopsis
The Earth's cryosphere includes snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river ice, lake ice and frozen ground. It also contains seventy-five percent of the world's fresh water. Because it plays a vital role in controlling the global climate system, and because it provides direct visible evidence of the effect of climate change, it is crucial that we understand its complex dynamics. This reference not only focuses on various aspects of snow, ice and glaciers; it also covers other cryospheric branches, offering the latest information and basic concepts on all relevant fields. The array of topics it covers is as vast and comprehensive as the audience it's intended to serve, everyone from geologists and geographers to climatologists and hydrologists as well as a broad spectrum of civil, agricultural and environmental engineers.
Synopsis
Focusing on snow, ice and glaciers, this encyclopedia provides an up-to-date resource of basic concepts and relevant topics. Research and teaching materials are included, in addition to specialized literature for geologists, geographers, climatologists and hydrologists.
Synopsis
The earth's cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers,
Synopsis
The earth's cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers,
Synopsis
The earth's cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers,
About the Author
Vijay P. Singh holds the Caroline and W. N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering, and is also a Professor of Biological and
Table of Contents
Ablation zone.- Ablation/melting.- Ablation-dominant medial.- Ablatometer.- Abrasion.- Abrasive wear (corrasion).- Accumulation zone.- Accumulation-area ratio (AAR).- Acidity of glacier ice.- Active ice rafting.- Active layer thickness.- Active subsole drift.- Advancing of glaciers.- Aerial photogrammetry.- Aerial reconnaissance.- Aggradation.- Aggregate of ice grains.- Aggregation of snow crystals.- Air-borne survey.- Albedo.- Albedo (snow, ice).- Alps.- Anchor ice.- Ancient ice ages.- Andes.- Anions.- Annual ablation.- Annual accumulation.- Annual mass balance.- Annual push moraine.- Antarctic Peninsula.- Antarctica.- Anticline.- Antidunes.- Appalachian Plateau.- Apron (glacier snout).- Arctic ice.- Artificial modification of snowfall.- Atomic bomb record in ice.- Avalanches and glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs): Avalanches.- Balance year.- Basal melting.- Basal moraine.- Base flow /groundwater flow.- Bed (bottom) topography.- Bed load.- Bed roughness.- Bed strength.- Bedforms (fluvial).- Bottom melting or undermelt (ice shelf).- Boulder.- Brash ice.- Breaching of lakes.- Buried glacier ice.- Cascade Mountains, USA.- Cascade system.- Catchment routing.- Cations.- Caucasus Mountains.- Cavitation erosion.- Cavities (between points of contact).- Changes in glacier extent and volumes.- Channel systems.- Channels.- Characteristics of snow and glacier fed rivers.- Chemical composition.- Chemical erosion.- Chemical weathering.- Chevron crevasse.- Cirque glaciers.- Cirque glaciers.- Cliff.- Climate change and glaciers.- Clinoforms.- Clotted ice.- Cloudburst.- Coefficient of friction.- Cohesion.- Cold content.- Compensating effect.- Condensation nuclei.- Conductivity.- Confluence of rivers.- Constructive metamorphism.- Continental sheets of the last ice age.- Cored moraine.- Cracks.- Creeping process (enhanced creep ).- Crevasses.- Critical debris thickness.- Critical temperature.- Crushing.- Cryostatic pressure.- Crystal fabric (ice).- Dead-ice moat.- Debris.- Debris (septa).- Debris covered glaciers.- Debris reworking.- Debris sources.- Debris-mantled glacier snouts .- Deformation till.- Deglacial flow.- Deglaciation.- Deglaciation and water resources.- Degree-day factor.- Degree-day method.- De-icing chemicals.- Delaying effects/ Lag-times.- Dendritic channel network.- Densification of snow .- Density of snow, firn, ice.- Depletion of snow cover.- Deposition from debris-rich ice.- Depositional processes.- Deposits from suspension settling and iceberg activity.- Depth hoars.- Depth of snow.- Design flood.- Destructive metamorphism .- Dielectric constant.- Differential ablation (melting).- Diffuse radiation.- Direct radiation.- Direct surface runoff.- Discharge /streamflow.- Discharge observations.- Dissolved ions.- Distributary channels .- Diurnal cycle of runoff.- Diurnal temperature range.- Diverging ice flow.- Dome.- Drainage characteristics.- Dry adiabatic lapse rate.- Dry calving.- Dry ice.- Dry snow.- Dry snow line/zone.- Dust on the glaciers.- Dye tracing.- Eclipse moraines.- Eco-system management.- Ecuador.- Elongation ratio.- End moraines.- Endogenic processes (climate change).- Energy balance (heat balance).- Englacial conduit.- Englacial process.- Enhanced plastic deformation.- Environmental isotopes.- Environmental lapse rate.- Equilibrium line.- Equilibrium line altitude (ELA).- Erosion deposition outwash/sediments.- Erosion of hard rock beds.- Erosion rates.- Errors in precipitation measurement.- Estimation of glacier depth.- Estimation of snow cover using satellite data.- Evaporation.- Evaporation from snow.- Extinction coefficient.- Extra-terrestrial radiation.- Failure (calving).- Fast ice.- Fjord.- Floating glacier snout/tongue.- Floods.- Flow separation.- Fluted moraines.- Fluted till surface.- Fluvial.- Fluvial deposits.- Fluvial deposits.- Fluvial discharges.- Fluvial hydrographs.- Fluvio-glacial sediment system.- Föhn winds .- Folding (in ice).- Folding (in sediments).- Form/type of precipitation.- Formation and deformation of basal ice.- Formation of snow.- Fossiliferous mud.- Fossils.- Free water content.- Freezing bottom (ice shelf).- Freezing ice.- Freezing meltwater.- Frequency analysis of snow storms.- Fresh snow.- Fresh water storage.- Frictional melting.- Frontal apron.- Frontal lake (proglacial lake).- Frost action.- Frost and permafrost.- Frozen aggregates.- Frozen toe (outer zone of glacier snout).- Furrows.- General circulation model (GCM) .- Geochemistry.- Geohazards.- Geothermal heat (flux).- Glacial and interglacial history of the ice age.- Glacial Erosion.- Glacial lake.- Glaciation level (threshold).- Glacier hydrology.- Glacier ice age.- Glacier motion.- Glacier outburst floods (GLOFs)(Jokülhlaup).- Glacier sliding.- Glacier surging.- Glacier system.- Glacier thinning.- Glacier velocity.- Glacier-dammed lakes.- Glacieret.- Glacierization.- Glaciers as indicators of climate change.- Glacifluvial.- Glacilacustrine.- Glacimarine.- Glaciodynamic stress.- Glacioeustasy.- Glacioisostasy.- Glacioisostatic rebound.- Glaciological method.- Glaciological variables (controlling glacial erosion).- Glaciology.- Glaciostatic stress/pressure.- Glacitectonics/glacitectonism.- Global distribution of snow.- Global mapping of glaciers.- Global mapping of snow and ice.- Global mapping of snow courses.- Global trend of deglaciation.- Global warming.- Gondwanaland.- Granulometry.- Gravel sheets.- Gravitational mass-movement deposits.- Gravitational mass-movement deposits.- Gravity flow (mass flow).- Greenhouse effect.- Greenhouse gases.- Greenland.- Greenland ice sheet.- Ground ice.- Ground penetrating radar.- Grounding line.- Growth of crystals by vapor deposition.- Hails.- Hanging valley.- Hanging wall.- Hardness.- Himalayas.- Hindukush.- Holocene Epoch.- Horizontal component of ablation.- Horizontal component of velocity.- Horizontal stress.- Horn (residual summit).- Huronian Glaciation.- Hyaloclastites.- Hyalotuffs.- Hydraulic conductivity.- Hydroelectric power.- Hydrogen isotopes.- Hydrographs.- Hydrological method.- Hydrological response.- Hydrostatic force.- Hydrostatic pressure.- Hypsometric curve.- Hypsometry.- Hysteresis.- Ice.- Ice composition.- Ice cores.- Ice deformation.- Ice Fabrics and texture.- Ice fields.- Ice Folia/foliation.- Ice Foliation.- Ice in streams.- Ice lenses.- Ice nucleation.- Ice sheet beds.- Ice sheets.- Ice stream.- Ice-marginal and supra-glacial land systems.- Ice-marginal deposition.- Ice-marginal moraines.- Imbrication of bed material.- Impact of deglaciation on sea level rise .- Impact of extent of snow cover area on climate.- Implications to global water distribution.- Important glaciers in the world.- Installation of stakes on glacier.- Interception of snow.- Interflow.- Interglacial cycles.- Interlobate moraine .- Intermittent sub-glacial drainage.- Inventory of glaciers.- Inversion layers.- Inverted cup depth hoar .- Irreducible water.- Isotopic analysis for identifying the source of water.- Isotopic fractionation of freezing water.- Isotopic signatures.- Karakoram.- Katabatic winds.- Kilimanjaro.- Laminated sediments.- Landforms of glacial deposition.- Landscapes of glacial erosion.- Landslide-dammed lake.- Landslides.- Landslip.- Latent heat of condensation.- Latent heat of evaporation.- Latent heat of fusion.- Latent heat of sublimation.- Latent heat of vaporisation.- Lateral moraines.- Layering of snow.- Liquid water content .- Little Ice Age.- Lobe.- Longitudinal crevasses.- Long-term water supply forecasting from snow surveys .- Long-wave radiation.- Marginal apron.- Marginal channel (lateral meltwater channel).- Marginal deposition.- Marine glacier.- Marine ice sheet.- Mass balance computation.- Mass balance/budget.- Maximum snow cover.- Mechanical weathering.- Median elevation of glaciers (MEG).- Melt contributing area.- Melt rates.- Melt season.- Melt water erosion.- Melting of ice.- Melting of snow.- Melting point.- Melting processes.- Melt-out till.- Meltwater channels.- Metamorphic processes.- Metamorphism.- Microwave application for snow depth.- Minimum snow cover.- Monitoring and warning systems.- moraine.- Moraine formation.- Moraine-dammed lakes.- Moraines.- Moulin (glacier mill).- Mount Everest.- Mountain glaciers.- Mountain winds .- Nappe.- Natural radioisotopes.- Negative mass balance.- Negative temperature gradients (in ice).- Neoglacial (Neoglaciation).- Net radiation budget.- Network of stakes.- Niche glacier.- Nye (N) channels.- Observation of snowfall.- Orographic lift.- Overburden pressure.- Oxidation.- Oxygen isotopes.- Palaeo glacio-fluvial sediment systems.- Palaeo-channels.- Palaeoclimate.- Palaeo-climate and glaciers.- Palaeohydrology.- Paraglacial activity.- Paraglacial processes.- Particle size distribution.- Past distribution of glaciers.- Peak flood discharge.- Penetration of radiation energy.- Percolation zone.- perennially frozen ground.- Periglaciation.- Permafrost.- Permanent/perpetual snowline.- Permeability.- pH values.- Physical weathering.- Piedmont glaciers.- Pit traps (bedload).- Plastic deformation.- Plastic flow.- Pleistocene Epoch.- Plucking.- Polar (cold based) glaciers.- Polar desert.- Polar glaciers/ice caps.- Polar ice caps.- Polar ice melting.- Polar region.- Porosity.- Positive degree-days.- Positive mass balance.- Powder, dry-flowing, wet-flowing and mixed avalanches.- Prairie mounds.- Precipitation .- precipitation/precipitation gradients.- Preglacial processes.- Present distribution of glacier.- Primary glacigenic deposits (till).- Proglacial processes.- Quantification of glacier retreat.- Quaternary period.- Quaternary Period/sediments.- Radial crevasses.- Radiation.- Radiation brush.- Radiative cooling.- Radioactive fallout.- Radioactive isotopes.- Radioactivity.- Radiocarbon dating.- Rafted debris.- Rain-induced melting.- Ram resistance.- Random errors.- Rating curve.- Recession coefficient.- Recession of discharge.- Recrystallization of ice.- Reflectance.- Refreezing of meltwater (regelation).- Regional snow line.- Relief.- Remobilization (of debris).- Resedimentation.- Retreat of glaciers.- Rime ice.- Riming of snow crystals.- Ripening of snow.- Rock glacier.- Rocky Mountains.- Role of snow in hydrologic cycle.- Röthlisberger (R) channels.- Runoff coefficient.- Runoff simulation modelling.- Runout distance.- Salinity.- Saltation.- Satellite applications.- Saturated adiabatic lapse rate.- Sea-level rise.- Seasonal snow.- Sediment classification and description.- Sediment core.- Sediment deformation.- Sediment gravity flow (SG).- Sediment load.- Sediment routing.- Sediment shape.- Sediment size.- Sediment system.- Sediment transport.- Sediment yield.- Sensible heat.- Separation of hydrographs using isotopes.- Septa of englacial debris.- Shear strength.- Shear stress.- Shore ice.- Short-wave radiation.- Sintering.- Sleet.- Snout.- Snow.- Snow accumulation.- Snow boards.- Snow course.- Snow cover.- Snow crystals.- Snow distribution.- Snow gauges (type of snow gauges).- Snow grains.- Snow hydrology.- Snow line.- Snow loads.- Snow pillow.- Snow pits .- Snow stakes.- Snow storms.- Snow survey.- Snow water equivalent.- Snowdrift/blowing of snow.- Snowfall.- Solar constant.- Solid precipitation.- Solutes in glacier ice.- Solutes in meltwater.- Spatial and temporal distribution of snow.- Spatial patterns of glacier motion.- Specific heat.- Specific melt rate.- Spectral reflectance.- Splaying crevasse.- Squeezing of sediment.- Stable isotopes.- Stage-discharge relationship.- Stagnant ice/ Dead ice.- Standard mean ocean water (SMOW).- Stationary glacier.- Stratigraphy.- Stratigraphy of snowpack.- Stream channels.- Streamflow routing.- Stress and strain.- Sub-aquatic depositional systems.- Subglacial drainage system.- Sub-glacial processes.- Subglacial weathering.- Sublimation.- Sublimation from snow.- Sublimation till.- Sub-polar glacier.- Sub-polar region.- Summer accumulation pattern.- Super cooling of clouds.- Supercooled water.- Supersaturation.- Supra-glacial debris entrainment.- Supra-glacial processes.- Surging glacier.- Suspended sediment.- Suspended sediment concentration.- Systematic errors.- Tabular ice bergs.- Tectonic activity and ice ages.- Temperate glaciers.- Temperate ice (wet-based ice).- Temperature induced melting.- Temperature lapse rates.- Temperature profile of snowpack.- Temporal variations in glacier motion.- Terminal moraines.- Terraces.- Terrestrial radiations.- Thermal capacity.- Thermal conductivity.- Thermal infrared sensors.- Thermal properties.- Thermal quality.- Thermal resistance.- Thinning of Arctic sea ice cover.- Tibetan Plateau.- Tien Shan/Kunlun Shan icefields, China.- Till.- Tillite.- Time of concentration.- Toe-to-headwall altitude ratio (THAR).- Tracers.- Transient snow line.- Transmissivity.- Transverse crevasses.- Trend of changes in glaciers mass balance.- Tributary glaciers.- Trimline.- Turbulent heat.- Ultraviolet radiation.- Unstable isotopes.- Ural Mountains.- U-shape valley.- Valley glaciers.- Valley winds.- Viscosity.- V-shaped valley.- Washboard moraine.- Water percolation.- Water pressure.- Water storage characteristics.- Water yield.- Weathering Processes.- Wet (warm or temperate) based ice.- Wet snow.- Wet snow line/zone.- Winter accumulation pattern.- Worldwide distribution of glacier ice area.- Worldwide distribution of glacier ice volume.- Worldwide distribution of snow.- Year-round ablation pattern